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Talk:Plutonium
Plutonium pic What exactly should we use for the plutonium pic?--Taybo20 05:39, 18 February 2007 (UTC) *That which you uploaded is fine. It does show the substance in the container, though we could show the box as well. -- Riffsyphon1024 05:53, 18 February 2007 (UTC) **Alright the pic with the plutonium in the box is uploaded. I think it might be what you want. http://bttf.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Plutonium_box.jpg --Taybo20 06:04, 18 February 2007 (UTC) The purpose of the red liquid *Since the red liquid is not the plutonium, and the pellet is contained within this liquid, might it be possible that the liquid was alpha ray-blocking in nature, perhaps a lead mixture to lessen contamination? This wouldn't be canonical without the Bobs saying something along these lines of course. -- Riffsyphon1024 07:15, 29 June 2008 (UTC) **I'd say that Doc knew that the clear liquid provided as much protection as the lead-lined Delorean, since he opened and closed the box with all the remaining plutonium, without the hood of his radiation suit on. Western Union 05:18, 30 June 2008 (UTC) ***Unless that was a continuity error and it was just as dangerous in the box, or why else would they be wearing the suits? -- Riffsyphon1024 05:03, 1 July 2008 (UTC) ****Granted that it's listed in books and web sites as a movie goof, and it may well be, but this wiki explains things in-universe, if at all possible. The purpose of the clear cylinder in the film is that it would be unreasonable to just pick up a rod of plutonium with your hand -- so maybe the clear liquid prevents exposure from direct contact with the red tube for the time it takes to refuel, and (in addition to the packing material in the box) also protects when within arm's reach for just a second. Or maybe this is yet another case of Doc the "mad scientist" gaining our confidence and admiration as a trustworthy and brilliant workaholic and then surprising us with an illogical leap of faith. Western Union 17:00, 1 July 2008 (UTC) *****Gosh I'm curious about this again since the plutonium leakage from the Fukushima plant in Japan. Anyone else have a perspective? -- Riffsyphon1024 20:06, March 30, 2011 (UTC) ******Back in 1985, I assumed that the DeLorean didn't actually have a nuclear power plant like today's Fukushima onboard, but got its power from plutonium using the same method as the Voyager spacecraft, which were about the size of an automobile. Now I realize that there were some car-sized spacecraft in the 1960's that had nuclear fission reactors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAP-10A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RORSAT. Still, both of these methods produced only 400-500 watts of electricity, and Doc would have to wait a long time after loading the plutonium before a capacitor could store up 1.21 gigawatts and release it. Another issue not dealt with in the movie is what happened to the spent plutonium, which is still radioactive. Western Union 17:41, March 31, 2011 (UTC) *******That spent fuel must have remained in the DeLorean, even during its destruction on the train tracks. In a normal world, that would release radioactive material into the air upon collision with the train. But obviously that didn't occur in Part III. -- Riffsyphon1024 19:58, March 31, 2011 (UTC)